Modern pickup trucks are capable of storing and transporting multiple types of all terrain vehicles, yard maintenance vehicles, motorcycles, jet skis, snowmobiles, and the like. However, such vehicles and similar cargo are too heavy to be lifted into the truck's bed, which is typically suspended several feet from the ground. Many cargo ramps have been developed to allow the user to roll the vehicles from the ground and into the bed of the truck.
Some of the previously developed ramps are foldable or retractable and take the place of the trucks tailgate. The drawback to these ramps is that the original tailgate of the truck must be removed, which can decrease the structural integrity of the truck bed walls and cause the vehicle to develop permanent alignment problems. Others fold up or break down to be stored in the trucks bed along with the cargo. These designs force the user to give up some of the trucks cargo space for the ramp. Many designs also require several tools to assemble and disassemble. For those designs, the user must also give up storage space to transport the appropriate tools.
Still other ramps can be attached to the sidewalls of the truck, but such ramps require the truck be permanently modified to accept them. Others increase the truck bed length or store the cargo above the truck bed which can significantly shift the vehicles center of gravity and increase the potential for accidents, both during the cargo loading process and during transit. Many of the abovementioned designs also connect to the truck bed instead of directly connecting to the truck frame. This can cause damage to the truck bed when heavy cargo is loaded.
Therefore, what is needed is a space saving automobile loading ramp. The space saving automobile loading ramp system should attach directly to the frame of the automobile without the need of modifications to the automobile, should not take up space in the bed of the automobile, should require no tools to assemble and disassemble, and should not alter to automobiles center of gravity. Furthermore, other desirable features and characteristics of the present invention will become apparent when this background of the invention is read in conjunction with the subsequent detailed description of the invention, appended claims, and the accompanying drawings.